The Soul That's Always Watching
by Josho nikushimi
Summary: who knew that when you died god truly did listen to your last thoughts. I should have thought it through better before I was stuck in this continuous loop. I wish somebody would've told me when I was still alive... if I had known, I wouldn't have asked for a second chance in my worthless life.
1. Chapter 1

It hurt. Everything hurt. I could feel every spot on my body where organs were exposed to cold stale air, and the burns met the cold mettle table.

"Ready to tell us yet."

I gurgled the blood in my mouth in an attempt to speak and coughed it out onto my chest, "I d-don't know." i let out a pained yell as a knife dug into my stomach.

"We don't want you lying to us."

A tear streaked down my face and i looked toward the ceiling, where i saw only grey stone, and the constant dripping water as it hit my forehead. This was such a cruel world. Some children were forced into Scorpion as children and dedicated their life to carrying out the president's orders.

I was captured, and now i was being tortured for information i don't have.

"This is your last chance. You can either tell us and live, or die."

I forced myself to turn my head and look to the side where the man torturing me stood, i spat at his face, and the dark red liquid hit it's target. He wiped it away with a cloth and a cruel knife flickered in the dim lighting.

The tip was curved, in order for it to cause as much pain as possible.

"Then you shall die."

With that he drilled one more hole into my body, and in that moment of utter pain everything went black.

 _...All i want is another chance._


	2. Chapter 2

"It's a boy." the woman turned to look at the girl sitting next to her. There was a small child in her arms, wrapped in a rough white cloth. It was the best they had. The child watched, black eyes taking in everything.

"We do not need it then." the girl nodded and walked back into the trees. They were not cruel people, but the child would not be welcome in their village. After all, a man would not survive in a village of women.

The masked man raised a hand, white mask glinting slightly in the moonlight. The three identical forms behind his stopped as well and they listened. Nearby there was a rustling, and the bushes next to them shifted ever so slightly.

There was no wind.

The lead man flicked his wrist and one of the figures jumped down from the trees to check. The masked ninja stood back up with a child in their arms, black eyes studying them. There was a moment of silence before they took off again.

This time the child went with them.

"Mite? Where are you going." The year old child blinked and tilted it's head. Black eyes gleamed. "Silly child. Come on you must be hungry."

The black braid shifted as the boy turned to crawl away from the caretaker.

"Mite?"

The boy ignored her and the silence remained as he crawled back to the crib in the corner of his room. There were no other children present, as they were all eating and only the caretaker made a sound, for not even as he crawled did the boy make a sound.

"Children! Settle down! The ninja will be here soon."

The orphan children cheered once more before settling in their seats. Behind them however sitting in the far back corner was a boy, around three years in age. He wore black, and his skin was pale from never going outside. His eyes, the same dark black as his braided hair, watched the proceedings.

There was a puff of smoke in the front and the children gaped in surprise as the brown haired ninja before them smiled warmly.

"Hello everyone! I'm Shinoro Tasuki! I'm the ninja here to talk with you!" the children laughed yet the one boy continued to watch silently..

Mazari Yamanaka watched sticking to the ceiling with chakra as his partner talked with the children, telling them all about the like of a shinobi. Well not the negative parts but still, they were just kids. It was his job to look as the children and see if there were any children good for the shinobi job.

He had just finished up at the academy yesterday. None of them were special.

Here at the orphanage however there was once particular child he had looked into before they visited. Mite, the silent child of the orphanage, not even a sound had come from him. Most children were loud when they walked, and made rustling sounds every time they moved, but he had not.

He hadn't cried and his footsteps had always been silent. He didn't speak or anything of the sort. He communicated through his hands, moving them to motion what he wanted.

"Mite, do you not like the ninja?"

The child turned to the caretaker and shook his head. His face morphed into an annoyed expression, and the caretaker laughed nervously.

From behind him the presenting shinobi spoke,"Ah young one, would you like to try throwing a Kunai? The rest of the children have given it a shot already."

He looked to the sharp knife, not at all frightened by the ninja's shunshin or the blade being held out to him. The boys small hand reached out and gripped the handle loosely. He stood, not even reaching the shinobi's knees and made his way to the temporary target that had been set up 15 feet away.

He stood at the white line and threw.

Everyone held their breaths as the Kuni sailed through the air then impaled itself deep in the center of the target. The child turned to the people watching and beamed. It wasn't one of those smiles that frightened you intentionally, but rather one that was so inissintly sweat you couldn't help but step back.

"M-Mite, let's go sit back down now alright."

The child nodded and walked back to his spot silently and continued watching.

"Mite hu. He'd make a good ninja. He's got good aim for a brat, but i'm sure it was pure luck." the Yamanaka hiding in the shadows let himself smile lightly and for his eyes to drip around the room once more.

The older children were glaring at the boy, and the younger ones pouted. A few were even crying.

The man hiding in the shadows of the room watched as his partner neared the silent boy.

"Your name is Mite correct?" a nod, "Ah, that's great! How would you like to join the Academy in a few years?" Another nod, "Then you better get training Mite. War isn't a pretty thing.

The boy looked up and smiled and grinned as though his dreams had just come true.

"Watching. Such a fitting name for a child like him. It's hard to think he's as young as they say he is."

"Mite?" the black haired boy turned to look at the shinobi standing behind him and tilted his head to the side in question, "Do you remember when i asked you if you wanted to the join the academy?"

A nodd.

The Shinobi blinked in surprise then chuckled nervously, "What a great memory." He shook his head to clear it and looked at the boy once more, "We need you to carry through with that now. We are officially in a time of war now."

Then the boy spoke his first words ever, "I know. I've been watching."

It was then that the first person realized what the boy could do. He didn't just watch what was before him, but also the world he lived in.

"Then you know tha…"

He was cut off as the boy turned to look at him and the boys energy washed over him, aged far beyond what he looked. Then Mite smiled and stood abandoning the thick book he had been reading from. Everything about the child screamed strong and the ninja before him decided his earlier comment wasn't required. This child would do great things.

"I with you luck kid,"

The academy had lots of odd children go through it, but this one had to be the cherry on top of the cake. He excelled in everything they asked him to do, and his eyes...

His eyes, the most frightening part of him being. They were far too old and wise for a boy his size and age. "Mite? Would you like to answer this question?"

Mite turned to face his teacher, no longer looking out the window at the busy streets below. He stood walking to the front of the room where the math problem was written. The chalk was silent as he dragged it along the board, writing number after number until he determined the answer.

The chalk stopped writing and was returned to its place as Mite walked back to his seat and continued looking out over the village, taking in everything there was to see.

"T-thankyou Mite." nervously the teacher stuttered watching the childs unsettleing eyes wander around the room before stopping on a man walking inside the building. Seconds later the school sirens sounded and the children screamed.

Blood spilled in waves from the Genins stomach as he clutched his wounded stomach. His team played in similar states around him, bleeding helplessly onto the ground. The enemy ninja smirked at him and dropped the bloody kuni.

"Sorry kid, but war is war."

The genin coughed up the blood beginning to fill his lungs and he glared at the man who had henged as his sensei with the last of his life force. The man walked away smirking and ran down the hallway just as the siren blared.

"Children! Hurry and evacuate! Stay close to your sensei and the older children!"

Desperately children pushed through the doors leading outside, occasional screams of terror as as footsteps ran above them. Towering above the students were the teachers sending identical looks of worry to one another.

They were one child short, and it was none other than the child named Mite, who fit his name in every way possible.

"I'll go look for him, make sure the children get to safety." in a puff of smoke the chinin teacher was gone and his fellow teachers rushed the last of the children outside.

The man hummed as he walked down the hallway, drawing a sharp kuni along the wall as he walked. He stopped at a doorway and peered inside the doors that had never been closed as the building evacuated.

He was about to move on when suddenly froze and turned his head to the back wall where the wall met the windows. There was a child there, head turned around to stare at him, eyes unblinking.

"Eh? Don't look at me like that you brat!"

The enemy ninja waved the kuni around in an attempt to intimidate him. The child stood, chair moving silently across the floor. Silence. It was completely silent, and that was all it took for the ninja to become suspicious.

"Hey brat! You listening to me?" there was no response other than the child slow walking as he neared the confused ninja. "Did your mother not teach you manners Brat?"

A pause then the child continued to walk, eyes still unblinking.

Mite was only feet away when the offending ninja took a step back and the kuni fell from his hand. In that split second Mite swept forwards and caught the kuni handle. Without hesitation he spelt it upwards and sliced open the mans sumec.

"Gah! You brat!" the enemy ninja's henge fell revealing a heavily muscled man wearing a Kiri headband. He was dressed in pure black just like the child before him, however his skin was tanned.

He pulled out another kuni and aimed for the child open front, only to find his eyes piercing his own. He faltered leaving himself open for an attack and before he could even process what had happened his own weapon had been stabbed through his heart and pulled out again.

He was dead before he hit the ground.

Turning the corner the teacher froze at the sight before him. The hallway looked completely normal except for the body lying upon the floor and the boy standing there holding the bloody murder weapon.

"Mite? Where did you get that?"

The black haired child turned and tilted his head to the side and smiled, "He dropped it."

The teacher gulped and turned to look at the Anbu that had just appeared behind him and turned back to look at his student. He closed his eyes and frowned. Never once had he wanted one of his children to experience war before they were Genin.

"Mite. let's go talk to the Hokage."

The boy dropped the kuni next to the corpse he was staring at with dark eyes. He trailed behind his teacher without questioning anything, and never once did he show a singh that the blood dying his clothes a shiny black bothered him.

The twin katana's glinted in the sun as the edges dripped with blood. Their most recent target gasped like a fish trying to fill their lungs, but their lungs were in tatters and the air leaked from them faster than their heart could pump blood.

"Monster."

It was the last word the shinobi was able to utter as his eyes dimmed until all life left them. Black eyes stared unblinking as the thirteen year old boy flung the blood from his swords. Pale skin sharply contrasted the black blood soaked clothes he wore.

A nearby ninja wearing the same headband decorated with a leaf turned to face him. "You're needed on the front lines."

The only answer she received was a nod then he began running forwards toward the screams. Occasionally a ball of fire would launch into the sky illuminating it further. Bodies litter the once beautiful field, and the ground wept with spilled blood.

Nothing would be able to grow in these land for years, the soil was too flooded with blood to be usable, and the boy had to live with the fact that the mud he stepped in was not a mixture of dirt and water.

As he ran his eyes flickered to everything. Taking in the numerous bodys before him. All of them were bloodied but a few of them were burned beyond recognition. None of them mattered to him. There was nothing he could do for the dead.

He passed the occasional wounded soldier and stopped only long enough to slit their throats if they were not from Kahona or wrap their wound his they were allies.

"You shouldn't go up there kid. The front lines are a blood bath right now." the girl coughed into her hand as he wrapped her middle with bandages. She had been stabbed almost straight through her middle and she had been lucky that it missed anything important.

Mite shook his head and smiled warmly at her, motioning to the area around him that had also once been the front lines.

"He. I know kid. I just don't like seeing people so young being sent out like this." her eyes closed as she continued. "I know about you though. You're Mite. You were from the same orphanage as that other orphan kid who's been riseing in the ranks recently."

A nodd.

"Well, i'm sorry to waste your time, there are many more dieing as we speak. I can only pray that you return alive."

There was no answer other than the soft brush of wind as it passed by. Mite was already long gone.

One after another they fell. The tide of never ending shinobi seemed to be everywhere at one, and he was being pressed in on all sides.

They were losing. Kahona was losing and Mite wasn't able to retract like they had been ordered hours ago. There were several other kahona shinobi stranded in the sea of enemies and their chances of survival were low.

"Give up scum!"

The man was silenced in the swing of a blade and another took his place. "You're not going to make it out of this!"

"You're in way over your head brat!"

"Just surrender, and maybe we won't kill you!"

Mite knew he wouldn't get out of this alive, but he'd rather die trying than to be captured by the enemy where he wouldn't be of any aid to the people of his village. At least here he was able to thin their numbers if even only by a few.

This was the life of a ninja. You died for your village no matter what you did.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hello little Tenshi!" the large doe eyes blinked into focus and stared up at the woman before them. "I'm your Mother! And this is your father!" she motioned towards a man standing off to the side, his face permanently forced into a scowl.

"I hope you grow up to be big and strong! Just like your father!"

Little did they knew that in a life before, the young girl had been stronger than many. Though, I'm not sure they really needed to know that.

"Mama? Did you know that when Father is concerned his right eye goes unfocused?"

The sobbing woman paused in her cried and turned to face her daughter, "Tenshi?"

The brown haired girl smiled, doe eyes closed, "See Mama. Father isn't' mad at you for breaking the pate. He just doesn't want you to get hurt."

Taking a shaky breath and giving her daughter a small smiled, the mother dried her tears. "You're right. I'm sorry for overreacting like this Tenshi."

"It's ok Mama. everyone has their moments. You should spend all the time you can with father before he leaves again."

Chuckling slightly the mother stood and lifted her daughter. "It always amazed me what your eyes can see."

Brown doe eyes framed with long lashes moved their gaze to stare into the depths of their mother's eyes. The young mother could've sworn she saw a wisdom her daughter shouldn't have in the depths of her daughter's eyes.

"That's because I'm good at watching Mama."

"Tenshi! Tenshi!" the cries fell on deaf ears as the middle-aged woman laid silently on the ground. Despite her time coming to an end, she was not at peace. If anything she was annoyed.

"Tenshi! My Angel! Tenshi!" the distressed mother had tears leaking down her face as she tried desperately to keep her daughter awake, "Please Tenshi! I can't lose you too!" the dying girl sighed internally. The sooner her mother forgot her the better, for all Tenshi knew she would never be able to rejoin the people who were once her family.

She was once a boy as well. James, Mite, and now Tenchi. They were the soul identity. The soul was not just one of them but had been all of them at one point in time. The cycle wouldn't stop for many lives to come.

The soul had been foolish.

It should've known people don't get second chances.


	4. Chapter 4

"Yuki? What are you drawing?" the blond haired woman peered over her son's shoulder at the piece of paper he was drawing on.

"This is Mite." the 9-year-old pointed to the boy in the top left corner of the paper. It was drawn in detail, with dark eyes, and pale skin. His clothes were shaded darker colors, and his hair a dark black-grey color.

"Oh? And who are the other two?"

"This is Tenshi."

The mother raised her eyebrow, "Angel?"

Nodding the boy smiled up at his mother giving her a better view of the picture. Lighter hair, shade a light grey. Maybe brown, and large doe eyes. It was then that the mother noticed something in common with the three people. All of them had the same look in their eyes.

Her son's final drawing was a man, with dark hair just like the first picture, and his face looked to be stuck in a permanent emotionless mask, "Who is this?"

"That's James!" grinning the boy began drawing another picture, this one of himself. His short spiky hair appeared first, then his face, complete with cheerful eyes and a bright smile. Despite being cheerful, his eyes still held the same wisdom as all his other pictures.

"Why are you drawing all the eyes like that?"

He turned to smile even brighter at his mother and opened his eyes so she could stare at them. "That's what my eyes look like right."

The corner of the mother's lips twitched in a nervous smile. "Yes. that is correct Yuki." It was true. In fact, her son's eyes held even more wisdom than his drawings. It was almost as if she was looking into the eyes of a man who had lived many times over.

"Can we eat lunch now? I'm hungry."

"Y-yes." She stood to head into the kitchen but turned back to face her nine-year-old son, "Hey Yuki. do you think I could take your drawing to work?"

Almost as if a switch had been flipped her son's eyes pierced her own, "There's nothing wrong with me."

She sucked in a quick air of breath suddenly feeling very uncomfortable in the presence of you young son. "I know Yuki. I know." with that she vanished into the kitchen to escape the tension hanging thinly in the air, squeezing her lungs in a steel grip.

"It's not you Yuki. There's something wrong with all of us…" with that the frightened mother snatched up a kitchen knife and walked back into her living room.

"I'm sorry."

It really is amazing what fear of the unknown can do to the human mind...


	5. Chapter 5

"Dad? Somethin' wrong?"

The 10-year-old turned to face his father who stood in his bedroom doorway. "No. just wonderin'' if ya wanted to go for a ride?"

Without hesitation, the boy jumped up, abandoning his model dragon, "Is Mum out again?"

"Aye. so we got the house to ourselves."

The son whooped loudly and followed his father our to the garage where the truck was stored. "Wana head down to the river? We could go fishin' or somethin' of the sort."

The boy nodded eagerly sharp eyes staring intently taking n every detail of his father's face. Suddenly alarm flashed across the young boy's rectangular face as the truck rolled down their driveway.

"Stop the car!" it was too late though and as soon as the car rolled onto the road, the minivan crashed into the side of the truck.

"Son!"

The boy cried out in pain as mettle pierced his skin, and the bending of the car snapped his arm and leg, leaving them dangling there at odd angles. It was his body first, then his head. He didn't have a single moment of time to process the pain as a particularly sharp piece of glass pierced his head and everything once again went black.


	6. Chapter 6

" **How are you liking your decision?** "

The man's head wiped to the side to stare at the child sitting on the bench with him. They are sitting under a large willow tree, surrounded by flat land stretching out as far as the eye could see.

Birds chirped quietly, and the sky was a cloudless blue. The boy sitting beside him was dressed in golden silk robes and his feet swung, never once hitting the ground. Both his feet and hands had small holes through them but he gave no sign that it bothered him.

"What do you mean?"

" **When you asked for another life. This was your body right?** " the child was looking up at him now, a large smile stretched across his face.

Sure enough, when the man looked down the body he had was the same one he had died in the first time. "It is my body, but I don't understand what happened.

" **I wanted to know what a human would do if they got another chance at life. It's awfully lonely up here when I'm the only one who can't return to the earth like all of you. Though I suppose Mama's here too, she tends to the gardens most of the time.** "

"Gardens?"

" **Yeah. Eve, and Adams garden.** "

It suddenly it the man what had happened and tears began spilling from his eyes, "I have finally died. I've seen so many things I'd rather have never seen. It's worried what other places raise their children like."

The small boy the man now identified as God nodded, " **Don't worry. You don't have to go back there anymore. You can stay here with me!** "

Blinking in surprise the man stopped his crying, "What do you mean? Is there not a heaven or hell?"

" **There is, but we can't visit hell and they can't visit us. Everyone comes here so I can judge them but they all leave eventually, and in times of war they seem to show up without pause.** "

"I can not help you though. I myself am a mortal."

Laughing the boy shook his head, " **no you're not. You're the first person I granted the ability to live more lives! You can travel to earth and back whenever you want! Like an angel!** " Grinning the boy stood and turned around to extend his hand to the man sitting on the bench, tears drying on his cheeks.

"I suppose it wouldn't be too bad to stay here then." he reached out and grabbed the boy's hand in his own standing up to stare down at the boy, before selling and letting out a loud laugh, "I was so foolish! What I wanted was not another life, but do not die without anyone missing me! I was afraid of being forgotten!"

" **There has never been anything to be afraid of.** "

With that, the soul who had been stuck on repeat for several lives finally stopped and found a place he could settle down in.


End file.
